“The daughter Robert Moses and Jane Jacobs never had.” That is how Michael Bloomberg, former Mayor of New York, describes his Transportation Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan. The urbanist is one of the leading figures in the field advocating for city streets — the greatest asset of municipal governments — as the primary way to improve people's lives.
At the helm of mobility policies in the United States' largest city between 2007 and 2013, Sadik-Khan led a veritable revolution in the fight against the automobile. Among her primary achievements are the creation of more than 600 kilometers (370 miles) of bike lanes and the city's bike-share program, dedicated bus lanes, and dozens of plazas where there once was only space for cars. Behind this were bold goals, a handpicked technical team, and robust data to back up her decisions. Today, those walking through New York enjoy the transformation of nearly one million square meters of asphalt into areas exclusive to cyclists and pedestrians.
